Western Michigan University – Stand Up For Speech Lawsuit

A Western Michigan University (WMU) student organization filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the university with assistance from FIRE. The lawsuit alleged that when Kalamazoo Peace Center (KPC) sought to secure university space for rapper and social activist Boots Riley’s keynote address for its annual Peace Week commemoration, WMU refused, citing “public safety.” When presented with evidence that Riley had appeared on other college campuses without incident, WMU notified KPC that it could hold the event on campus—but only after paying $62 per hour for private security. Rather than pay this unforeseen and unjustifiable expense, KPC arranged for Riley to speak in the basement of the Wesley Foundation, a campus ministry group whose facility was not controlled by the university.